Kate+Scudellari+-+Community+Selection

M126 August Riis is a diverse public middle school located in the heart of Chinatown, where many bilingual and native Spanish speaking Hispanic students happen to attend. Specifically, a significant number of the Puerto Rican/Nuyorican (of Puerto Rican descent) students live uptown in the vibrant community of El Barrio, also known as Spanish Harlem or the “Upper Upper East Side”. El Barrio is located between the Harlem River (north), East River (east), East 96th Street (south), and 5th Avenue (west), and its main commerce area is 116th Street between 5th Avenue and the FDR drive. A low-income locality densely populated by Puerto Ricans, El Barrio represents one of the largest Latino communities in NYC. While rich with Spanish language and Hispanic culture, this community is afflicted with much poverty and violent or drug-related crime and more recently, gentrification. To uncover the nuances and connotations of students’ linguistics, language, and literacies in and out of El Barrio, potential data sources include: overheard conversations, running records of my observations, Radio/TV/media (97.9, newspaper “El diario”, Univision & Telemundo), photos, writing samples, and other artifacts such as local advertisements and menus. Additionally, I will attend “Raices 4.0”, a photography exhibit of prominent places in El Barrio, celebrating Spanish, Caribbean culture and Hispanic Heritage Month.

To supplement class readings, probable related texts include: Carger, C. (1997). Attending to New Voices, //Educational Leadership, 54,// 39-47. Carrasquillo, A.L. & Rodriguez, L. (1996). //Language minority students in the mainstream classroom.// Philadelphia, PA: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Guild, P. (1994). The culture/learning style connection. //Educational Leadership, 51,// 16-21. King, R.D. (1997). Should English be the law? //The Atlantic Monthly, 279,// 55-64. Perez-Miller, A. (2003). Language and power. //Multicultural Perspectives, 5,// 33-38.